Even though the future obviously revolves around credit cards and online transfers, a team of British scientists have developed a way for banknotes to be harder to forge—using iridescent butterfly wings as inspiration.

The unique information encrypted in each note's optical signatures currently go some way to protecting currency forgery, but it's obviously not enough. Scientists at Cambridge University, England, have used nanotechnology to recreate the structure of butterfly wings, locking the code within the design. They see it not only being used on banknotes, but also passports and even credit cards.

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As a child I was entranced by the rainbow holograms on my parents' credit cards, but it looks like the future could be even shinier and more colorful. [Times]